One Small Thing - Softcover

Barksdale Inclan, Jessica

3.56

153 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0451211197 ISBN 13: 9780451211194

Publisher: NAL, 2004

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Unable to conceive a child after two years of unsuccessful fertility treatments, Avery Tacconi faces a new pain when she discovers that her husband, Dan, has a sordid past about which she had known nothing and an illegitimate ten-year-old son whose mother is deceased and of whom Dan has become the new guardian. Original. 50,000 first printing.

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About the Author:

Jessica Barksdale Inclán teaches writing, mythology, and women's literature at Diablo Valley College in Pleasant Hill, California. She was a 2002-03 recipient of an Artist's Fellowship for Literature from the California Arts Council.

From Publishers Weekly:

Avery Tacconi, the 28-year-old heroine of Incl�n's latest (after 2003's When You Go Away), wants everything to be perfect, but life keeps getting in the way of her plans in this endearing story. At first, fertility problems loom large-Avery abandoned a promising career to put more effort into conceiving-but soon enough her husband's secret past takes center stage. It turns out that before Dan straightened up and went to business school, he was a drug addict who got his then-girlfriend, Randi, pregnant without knowing it. Surprise! On a lovely summer night in the California suburb of Monte Veda, Dan gets a phone call informing him that Randi has died and left behind a 10-year-old boy, Daniel, who's probably his son. Avery-who's emotionally scarred from a childhood marred by her father's death and her mother's subsequent depression-shows little compassion for what she perceives as a sordid situation. She returns to work, where she's tempted by a love affair. Avery's bad behavior, especially when contrasted with Dan's superb adaptation to fatherhood, is an unexpected plot point that works. Daniel's arrival in Dan and Avery's home offers Incl�n the chance to paint touching and realistic scenes that lift her story above standard soap opera fare. Predictably, Avery comes around in the end, but it's an intriguing-and at times maddening-journey getting her there.
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